God's rejection of the Jewish system

Matthew 15 displays man and God, the moral contrast between the
doctrine of Christ and that of the Jews; and thus the Jewish system
is rejected morally by God. When I speak of the system, I speak of
their whole moral condition, systematised by the hypocrisy that
sought to conceal iniquity, while increasing it in the sight of
God, before whom they presented themselves. They made use of His
name in order to sink lower, under the pretence of piety, than the
laws of natural conscience. It is thus that a religious system
becomes the great instrument of the power of the enemy, and more
especially when that, of which it still bears the name, was
instituted by God. But then man is judged, for Judaism was man with
God's law and God's culture.

The Lord's exposure and judgment of the leaders of hypocrisy, selfishness and avarice

The judgment which the Lord pronounces on this system of
hypocrisy, while manifesting the consequent rejection of Israel,
gives rise to instruction that goes thus much farther; and which,
searching the heart of man, and judging man according to that which
proceeds from it, proves the heart to be a spring of all iniquity;
and thus makes it evident that all true morality has its basis in
the conviction and confession of sin. For, without this, the heart
is always false and flatters itself in vain. Thus also Jesus goes
to the root of everything, and comes out of the special and
temporary relations of the Jewish nation, to enter on the true
morality which belongs to all ages. The disciples did not observe
the traditions of the elders; about these the Lord did not concern
Himself. He avails Himself of the accusation, to lay it upon the
conscience of their accusers, that the judgment occasioned by the
rejection of the Son of God was authorised also on the ground of
those relationships that already existed between God and
Israel. They made the commandment of God of none effect through
their traditions; and that in a most important point, and one even
on which all earthly blessings depended for the children of
Israel. By their own ordinances also Jesus exposes the consummate
hypocrisy, the selfishness and avarice, of those who pretended to
guide the people, and to form their heart to morality and to the
worship of Jehovah. Isaiah had already pronounced their
judgment.

Man shown in his real colours before God

Afterwards He shows the multitude that it was a question of what
man was, of what proceeded from his heart, from within him; and
points out the sad streams that flow from that corrupt spring. But
it was the simple truth with respect to the heart of man, as known
by God, which scandalised the self-righteous men of the world,
which was unintelligible even to the disciples. Nothing so simple
as the truth when it is known; nothing so difficult, so obscure,
when a judgment is to be formed respecting it by the heart of man,
who does not possess the truth; for he judges after his own
thoughts, and the truth is not in them. In short, Israel, and
specially religious Israel, and true morality are set in contrast:
man is set in his proper responsibility, and in his real colours
before God.

Outside forms or inward purity

Jesus searches the heart; but, acting in grace, He acts
according to the heart of God, and manifests it by coming out, both
for the one and for the other, of the conventional terms of God's
relationship with Israel. A divine Person, God, may walk in the
covenant He has given, but cannot be confined to it. And the
unfaithfulness of His people to it is the occasion of the
revelation of Him passing out beyond that place. And note, here,
the effect of traditional religion in blinding moral judgment. What
clearer or plainer than that what came out of the mouth and heart
defiled a man, not what he ate? But the disciples through the vile
influence of Pharisaic teaching, putting outside forms for inward
purity, could not understand it.

The Canaanite's request; the Lord's seeming harshness

Christ now leaves the borders of Israel, and His disputes with
the learned men of Jerusalem, to visit those places which were
farthest off from Jewish privileges. He departs into the coasts of
Tyre and Sidon, the cities which He had Himself used as examples of
that which was farthest from repentance; see Matthew 11, where He
classes them with Sodom and Gomorrah as more hardened than they. A
woman comes out of these countries. She was one of the accursed
race, according to the principles that distinguished Israel. She
was a Canaanite. She comes to beg the interposition of Jesus on
behalf of her daughter, who was possessed by a devil. In begging
this favour, she addresses Jesus by the title, which faith knew to
be His connection with the Jews -- "Son of David." This gives rise
to a full development of the Lord's position, and, at the same
time, of the conditions under which man might hope to share the
effect of His goodness, yea, to the revelation of God Himself. As
the Son of David, He has nothing to do with a Canaanite. He makes
her no answer. The disciples desired to get rid of her by granting
her request, in order to have done with her importunity. The Lord
answers them, that He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. This was indeed the truth. Whatever may have been
the counsels of God manifested on occasion of His rejection (see
Isaiah 49), He was the minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God, to fulfil His promises made to the fathers.

The woman, in more simple and direct language, the more natural
expression of her feelings, begs for the merciful interposition of
Him in whose power she trusted. The Lord answers her, that it is
not meet to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. We see
here His true position, as come to Israel; the promises were for
the children of the kingdom. The Son of David was the minister of
these promises. Could He as such blot out the distinction of the
people of God? But that faith which derives strength from
necessity, and which finds no resource but in the Lord Himself,
accepts the humiliation of its position, and deems that with Him
there is bread for the hunger of those who have no right to it. It
perseveres, too, because there is a felt want, and faith in the
power of Him who is come in grace. What had the Lord done by His
apparent harshness? He had brought the poor woman to the
expression, to the sense, of her real place before God, that is to
say, to the truth as to herself. But, then, was it the truth to say
that God was less good than she believed, less rich in mercy
towards the destitute, whose only hope and trust was in that mercy?
This would have been to deny the character and the nature of God,
of which He was the expression, the truth, and the witness, on
earth; it would have been to deny Himself, and the object of His
mission. He could not say, "God has not a crumb for such." He
answers, in fulness of heart, "O woman, great is thy faith; be it
unto thee even as thou wilt." God comes out of the narrow limits of
His covenant with the Jews, to act in His sovereign goodness
according to His own nature. He comes out to be God in goodness,
and not merely Jehovah in Israel.

The sense of need and the source of blessing

But this goodness is exercised towards one who is brought, in
the presence of that goodness, to know that she has no right to
it. To this point the seeming harshness of the Lord had been
leading her. She received all from grace, while in herself
unworthy of all. It is thus, and thus only, that every soul obtains
blessing. It is not merely the sense of need -- the woman had that
from the beginning, it was that which brought her there. It is not
sufficient merely to own that the Lord Jesus can meet that need --
the woman came with that acknowledgment; we must be in the presence
of the only source of blessing, and be brought to feel that,
although we are there, we have no right to avail ourselves of
it. And this is a terrible position. When it comes to this, all is
grace. God can then act according to His own goodness, and He
answers every desire which the heart can form for its
happiness.

The heart of man and the heart of God

Thus we see Christ here as a minister of the circumcision for
the truth of God, to fulfil the promises made to the fathers, and
that the Gentiles also might glorify God for His mercy, as it is
written. At the same time this last truth makes manifest the real
condition of man, and the full and perfect grace of God. On this He
acts, while still faithful to His promises; and the wisdom of God
is displayed in a manner that calls forth our admiration. We see
how much the introduction, in this place, of the story of the
Syro-Phenician woman develops and illustrates this part of our
Gospel. The beginning of the chapter shows forth the moral
condition of the Jews, the falseness of Pharisaic and sacerdotal
religiousness; brings out the real state of man as man, what the
heart of man was the source of; and then reveals the heart of God
as manifested in Jesus. His dealings with this woman display the
faithfulness of God to His promises; and the blessing finally
granted exhibits the full grace of God, in connection with the
manifestation of the real condition of man, acknowledged by
conscience -- grace rising above the curse which lay upon the
object of this grace -- rising above everything to make itself a
way to the need which faith presented to it.

In Galilee, renewed evidences of Jehovah's compassions

The Lord now departs thence and goes into Galilee, the place
where He was in connection with the despised remnant of the
Jews. It was neither Zion, nor the temple, nor Jerusalem, but the
poor of the flock, where the people were sitting in gross darkness
(Isa. 8, Isa. 9). Thither His compassions follow this poor
remnant, and are again exercised in their behalf. He renews the
evidences, not only of His tender mercies, but of His presence who
satisfied the poor of His people with bread. Here however it is not
in the administrative power which He could bestow on His disciples,
but according to His own perfection and acting from Himself. He
provides for the remnant of His people. Accordingly it is the
fulness of seven baskets of fragments that is gathered up. He
departs also without anything else taking place. We have seen
eternal morality, and truth in the inward parts, substituted for
the hypocrisy of forms, man's use of legal religion and man's heart
shown to be a source of evil and nought else, God's heart fully
revealed that rises above all dispensation to show full grace in
Christ. Thus dispensations are set aside though fully owned, and
man and God fully shown out in doing so. It is a wonderful chapter
as to what is everlasting in truth as to God, and as to what the
revelation of God shows man to be. And this, note, gives occasion
to the revelation of the assembly in the next chapter, which is not
a dispensation but founded on what Christ is, Son of the living
God. In Matthew 12 Christ was dispensationally rejected, and the
kingdom of heaven substituted in Matthew 13. Here man is set aside
and what he had made of law, and God acts in His own grace above
all dispensations. Then come the assembly and the kingdom in
glory.